Advances in Environmental Research is the online version of the quarterly print journal Advances in Environmental Research: An International Journal of Research in Environmental Science, Engineering and Technology (ISSN 1093‐7927). Coverage includes research papers, case studies, notes, and critical review papers. Emphasis is on original research relative to the quality of the air, water, and land; or improving existing technology and enhancing the understanding of pollutants in the environment.
The editorial advisory board, like contributing authors for this journal, compose an international group of scholars and practitioners in fields such as chemistry, biology and engineering. At this writing Vol. 3 Nos 1 and 2 for 1999‐2000 were online. Posting of updates is timely. User name and password for the online subscription are required for viewing restricted papers. The first two issues are available on the Internet at no charge.
When entering an unlimited online subscription, the subscriber must provide the IP addresses and domain names of the computers that will have access to the journal. Details for registering IP and domain addresses are posted on the homepage and available from the publisher.
Online users may choose from two format options for the screen display PDF (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader) and HTML, whether the copy posted online is the prepublication or published print copy. Layout of the online version in HTML is designed for convenient viewing in that columns are omitted, thus allowing a larger print size. Graphics are viewed via hypertext links. The PDF version is the printed page image. Online subscribers will have the advantage of viewing the prepublication version of the manuscript soon after the item has been accepted. Once the paper is published in print, it is later published online. Efforts are made to ensure there is an online version of each item that is identical to the printed version. Therefore, subscribers should be alerted to the fact that minor changes may be made to the online version once the final printed proof has been prepared.
Additionally, users will find that graphics are scanned, which may result in images somewhat less clear than in the print version of the journal. The reviewer compared page‐by‐page the print issue Vol. 2 No. 3 to the online version. Each article was online in full text. Graphics and mathematical expressions were present and very clear in both online formats.
Readers may enter full text searches or search only by authors or titles. Topical searches reflecting subjects and terminology of the information areas covered receive quick responses. The reviewer found author surname searches generally more successful than variant forms of the name. There is also an option to display all results or limit displays to 10, 25 or 50 items. Selected items from among search results may be opened on the screen or saved to disk. Each works very well. Using options on the local computer, printing the screen image is possible.
The search engine allows the operators AND and OR, with AND as the default operator. Words it separates are searched separately (i.e. agricultural chemicals is equivalent to agricultural and chemicals). Researchers may enjoy the use of wildcards at the beginning of a word. The wildcard POLY retrieves documents containing any word for which POLY appears at the beginning, such as poly‐chlorinated and polynuclear.
Parentheses used to control the search order will alter the search responses. Results from the example “water and (pollution or toxicity)” will retrieve documents containing the words water and pollution and those containing the words water and toxicity. A search entered without parentheses as “water and pollution or toxicity” will bring forth documents containing the words water and pollution and the documents containing the word toxicity.
Searches are simple to enter and are not case‐sensitive. In fact, navigating this site would be comfortable even for the less experienced Internet researcher. The reviewer encountered no surprising search results or peculiarities.
Service to the public is reflected in quick responses to inquiries. In preparing the review, I left a telephone message requesting a preview subscription and a sample copy to compare with the online version. Hoping to get results and to try the email address, the same message was emailed almost simultaneously. Responses to both messages came that same day.
Scholars and professionals in fields where original research in environmental science, engineering, and technology are useful will find this peer‐reviewed journal an excellent resource. It is highly recommended for academic libraries and other scholarly collections. Entry level students will find the work to be advanced. Environmental science is a popular area for research and publication. The reviewer found over 1,000 publications covering specific aspects of topics that fall under the umbrella of environmental science. Major scientific publishers produce at least one title on the environment and technology.
Scholars may find other titles similar to this one which include some international coverage and original research. Potential subscribers should examine their interest and determine if their need for information is actually a particular aspect of environmental research.
